Today we’re discussing 7 sneaky ways to get your kids to eat vegetables (and if you should even be sneaky about it!)
Both of my girls (6 and 2) are fairly picky. One week they’ll love a certain food and two weeks later they’ll turn their nose at it. The rule at our dinner table is they musn’t make faces or noises at new foods and the must take one bite. If they don’t like it they can make something else for themselves for dinner. Obviously, this doesn’t work the same for our 2 year old but we often will just give her a little more of something on her plate that she did like.
I’ll go against the grain here and say hiding vegetables in food can make picking eating worse. Your kids may distrust what you’re putting in front of them. The key to that is to make sure you’re still having them try new foods WHILE sneaking in other veggies.
I’ve rounded up 7 of my favorite sneaky ways to get your kids to eat vegetables that have worked for us throughout the years.
1. Who doesn’t love muffins?
These Hulk Muffins are a huge hit with both of my girls (and even my husband who has a hard time eating breakfast). They’re also gluten free but they are GREEN. The fact that any food is green disgusts my daughter so once she tried these, and liked them, we were both shocked.
2. Swap the Fries
If you’re having a meal with fries on the side, swap them out for sweet potato fries or cauliflower tots. These are two of our favorites for sweet potato and cauliflower tots and sweet potato fries. It’s pretty amazing how my kids will eat almost anything if it LOOKS like something unhealthy and they have something to dip it in. Toddlers especially are notorious for eating anything in dip form!
3. Hidden Veggies in the Sauce
This is a great way to get rid of veggies that are about to go bad. You can put nearly anything in a red sauce and it’ll taste amazing. You can even use pureed veggies in meat sauce served over zoodles or Barilla Veggie noodles. We’ve been doing ‘Meatless Mondays’ and this is a great way to pack in tons of veggies. Veggie sauce over a veggie! It’s a great way to start the week.
4. Sneak it in Everywhere
There are some shocking ways that you can hide pureed veggies into food that even I was surprised tasted good. You can put butternut squash in mac n cheese, pumpkin in oatmeal, and sweet potato in pancakes! I’m seeing a trend with adding veggies into pasta and breakfast foods!
5. Spinach goes in everything
Ok, I have to admit. This one took me a while to get used to it. Start kids young on this one so they don’t notice the color change because it doesn’t really change the flavor. You can add it to eggs, quesadillas, smoothies, and pasta dishes without it changing the taste of the meal.
6. Cauliflower crust
Around here, we do Friday Family Pizza Night each Friday. Try making your own pizzas on pizza night. The more kids are involved in what they eat, the better they eat. We’ve tried a few different cauliflower crusts and although there is NO replacement for original pizza crust, this one is really tasty.
7. Add it to your meat
Mince veggies and add them to your meatloaf or turkey meatballs. Our girls really love meat. Pretty much any meat is going to be a success. When we saw that they always finished their meat, I decided to try adding veggies to their meatballs. They can tell the difference between veggie meatballs from IKEA and my meatballs with added veggies. They won’t eat the veggie meatballs but they love mine.
Kids will always be resistant to new foods. We gave both girls all kinds of fruits, vegetables, and fish when they were little and at a certain age they just became wary. So, I wised up and just tricked them. That’s a lie. We tell them what’s in it, after they try it and say they like it.
What are some of your favorite ways to get your kids to eat vegetables and encourage your children to eat healthier?
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